After graduating from Dartmouth, Turner became head football coach of Hamilton College for the 1904 season. That season, he completed a 5–3 record.[11] The following year, while he was attending law school, he became an assistant football coach at the University of Michigan under Fielding H. Yost. As part of his duties he was in charge of the freshman team.[8] In 1906, after he graduated from Michigan Law School, he moved to Syracuse, New York to practice law.[12] In the fall of that year he became an assistant football coach at Syracuse University under Hall of Fame coach Frank "Buck" O'Neill.[13] In 1906 he became head football coach at Purdue University where he completed a 0–5 record in his only year coaching the Boilermakers. His team only scored 10 points the entire season and he was replaced by Frederick A. Speik.[14]